


The Ends of This Beginning

by LovingPillow



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe, Complete, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-03-13 08:45:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 9,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13566981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovingPillow/pseuds/LovingPillow
Summary: [Snippets in chronological order] When all was lost, she fell back down and returned to a home under crossfire. Now stuck in her own time, she finds herself drowning, becoming submerged, and losing her sense of the world.





	1. Irony

**Author's Note:**

> 2018-10-01: I'm planning on revising this (will update on progress when I do)

Death sounded sweet, but they were injecting her with something that allowed her to breathe, and she didn't like that.

Death was at the tip of her tongue, if only she had a tongue to kill herself with, because it was now contained in another lab, one that was also built under the shrine.

Death beat against her chest, but it was pointless because they had attached long strings to control her heart.

It was a nightmare that she returned to, after the loss of Inuyasha and the others, she had only a second to see her friends dying before her eyes before she was whisked away to the well - and gone for good.

It had been nauseating to wake up surrounded by a form of liquid, and she had panicked with her eyes wide open and a scream tearing through her legs, but no sound escaped; only bubbles and blood.

Death sounded sweet, but they refused to kill her or let her die under their watch.

Who were they, though? What happened to her family? Was it possible that Naraku had taken over the Feudal Era and finally found where she lived?

She wanted to cry, but she didn't. Crying did nothing for her, and the scientists saw her as their experiment, to extract her reiryoku and mass produce it to kill off the yōkai contaminating the land above.

She was only one of many who in this day and age suffer for producing reiryoku.

"Should we bring in the yōkai to test our artificially made reiryoku?"

Her vision blurred as she watched the doors slide open, and her heart went out to Kagura, even though they were past enemies, and now they had something in common - being captured and subdued by these researchers.

Her cries of outrage went unheard as they fired up the reiryoku, but when nothing happened, she stopped struggling and was even mocking them with her silent laughter.

Kagome became aware of the sharp pain of yōki, and she sought to keep her reiryoku still, because she wasn't going to give the researchers the key to their research, and even if the world fell to pieces, she still wouldn't help them.

Her friends had died, her family was nowhere, and she just wanted to die. There was no reason for her to save the humans who had captured her and made her their experiment.

Feigning sleep, she honed in on Kagura's location, and felt a sense of joy for finding a kindred soul - Kagura wanted out but she had lost her arms and legs so she couldn't escape even if she wanted to.


	2. Retribution

It was all a lie that they'd free her once humanity was saved, because she overheard, she did, about how they would kill her after the mass genocide of yōkai.

Their words were coated with sugar, but their whispers inflicted with salt, and she was burned by their lies, lies, lies.

Time was lost to her, and she only knew that it was a new day when they brought in a yōkai, it was always one of her past enemies and she had many who managed to live this long, testing their artificial reiryoku, and sending them away when it didn't produce the results of killing them off.

"Why isn't it working?"

She thought that she would laugh if she still had her tongue, but only bubbles escaped her lips, and it wasn't uncommon to say because she needed to breathe and bubbles popped to the surface when she breathed.

"We're losing more men than we are of yōkai, and I want to see them all dead by sunrise!"

She was floating, bound by strings keeping her still, and mechanical devices were attached to her vital veins, drawing her blood and replacing it with whatever liquid they kept injecting inside her. She was sure that it was a slow poison, but she had nothing to base it on. For all she knew, it could be something harmless, but one would never know with these scientists.

A new yōkai appeared just then, and the doors had been melted down to its liquid state, but the alarm never rang and the scientists were still huddled around her, staring down at those clipboards of collected information.

Kagome wasn't sure what would happen, but she watched through lidded eyes how the yōkai sent the room to flames, and she wondered why it was so silent, and why the scientists were frozen still, staring down at their sheets of paper.

"Miko, such a disappointment to hear that you were reduced to becoming this... Would you like to be set free?" the yōkai asked, his voice rather familiar but the image he held a stranger.

She couldn't speak, couldn't move, but her eyes followed him as he slowly walked forth, and when the corners of his lips turned up - well, she woke up.

The room was intact. The scientists were jotting down whatever they had. The doors were standing strong.

It wasn't real, and she wondered just how much she wanted to be freed that even her dreams spoke of humanity's disaster.

"Professor, I think you need to see this," one of the researchers called out from the side of the room, and Kagome followed the voice to stare at the blinking screen, where it once was green.

"An intruder! It has to be him - he's the only yōkai we haven't gathered information about, the system doesn't recognize his yōki!"

_Could it be?_ Kagome wondered, and she watched the doors, waiting for something, anything, that would tell her her dream wasn't just a dream.

"My dear miko, to see you've been reduced to a pathetic experiment, how it pleases me to set you free," his voice echoed all around them, but he was nowhere in sight.

Her heart stopped beating for two seconds, and she found herself falling, floating, but falling and then she was out.

The carnage left behind tore her, but she wanted to smile at the pain they felt - and smile she did.

"Come, join me in the world I've created. Your precious hanyō and his miko are still alive, and they are as well as any prisoner could be, but your monk and his yōkai taijiya have been incinerated; their ashes scattered among the fields of my castle."

She would've cried if she could, but all she did was sit in his arms as he whispered what she didn't want to hear. Her friends were dead, her friends were alive, but her friends were prisoners of war, and she was going to join them - how was this better than being a prisoner of research?


	3. Found

Kagura relied on her to get around, and Kagome found it better than sitting in her room all day - at least she had a purpose now that she was freed by Naraku, who had taken on a new body with the corrupted Shikon no Tama.

Anything was better than being subjected to research. The time she spent floating in pain was worse than she could have ever imagined, and it beat out all the yōkai she fought in battle.

It was only time she had on her hands, and time that toyed with her.

"Wench?"

Kagome's feet stopped and Kagura turned to ask her what was wrong, but the yōkai stayed silent when she noticed the miko's eyes glaze over in memory. At times like these, Kagura would wait for the miko to return to the present, and until then, she would prod their surroundings with her yōki.

"Kikyō, I told you she was from this time - and you didn't believe me!"

_Inuyasha? Kikyō?_

Her feet continued to move, and she guided Kagura down the hall, wondering just how muddled her mind must be to fantasize the voices of her friends, who were locked in a part of the castle, far from where they were.

"Oy, wench! Come back here!"

 _Must be my imagination..._ she thought, even though his voice continue to echo in the back of her mind, until it faded out entirely.

"Did you not want to accept reality, miko?"

Looking down, Kagome felt his eyes on her, and she released the handles of Kagura's wheelchair to bow in the presence of Naraku.

"Come, my dear miko, do you want to see your precious hanyō and his miko?"

Wordlessly, she followed him as a servant hurried to fill in her spot as Kagura's guide.

"Naraku! What have you done to the wench?" Inuyasha hissed.

"I have done nothing but save her, isn't that right, my dear miko?" Naraku murmured, running his claws through her curls.

Tipping her head forth, Kagome agreed with him, because he really did save her - not once, but twice (once in her dream, a foresight indeed).

"Speak for yourself, wench!" Inuyasha growled, because he didn't like how close they were standing.

"Ah, but she cannot speak, for those humans cut off her tongue," Naraku explained, gripping her chin and smiling down at her - pleased when she opened her mouth to show off her missing tongue.

"K-Kagome?"

Turning, Naraku led his miko to her room. She had seen enough of the hanyō, and he knew because her eyes told all what she felt - her soul was broken but her eyes were still strong, and he enjoyed his miko unbroken.

"Rest, my miko, and when you wake, I will wait in my room," he muttered, closing her eyes after he set her in her bed.


	4. Sung

His lap was warm as he combed her hair, and her hands were cool as she cleaned his face. It was a nighttime ritual that held no meaning, but the comfort of being alive - to feel pain and to feel touch, and she wanted to feel, so she felt, and he obliged her this moment.

"How do you feel, Kagome?" he whispered, gazing deep into her soul.

She smiled, broken but full, and continued to sweep her thumbs across his eyelids, forcing them to close.

Naraku ran his claws through her hair as he felt the cool air fan against his face, and he dragged her closer, just because he could.

She had never been so close to him before, and her elbows dug into the blades of his shoulders, having lost her balance when he pulled her close.

A low chuckle filled the atmosphere, and he waved off her silent apology. This way, he had his little miko all wrapped up in him, and she would smell of him stronger than before, when he'd only imprinted his touch upon her hair, which would dearly wreck havoc within the hanyō he imprisoned centuries ago.

Kagome closed her eyes as her palms rested on his cheeks - thin, hallow, yet firm beneath her fingers, and she sighed.

Naraku opened his eyes when he felt her weight lift, and he was displeased to see her depart for the night. "Stay," he commanded, rising to his feet, and slowly, he reached out to pull her to his bed, where she lay staring in confusion.

"You may sleep while I brush your hair," was all he said, because he was unwilling to let her go tonight.

Closing her eyes, she fell to sleep, and was pulled out of sleep many times that night to the feel of his claws scraping against her skull, but every time she was lulled back to her dream.

When Naraku was done grooming her, he pulled her head beneath his chin. In the many centuries he'd held the corrupted Shikon no Tama in his clutches, he hadn't slept as soundly as he was doing now, and it was all because of his little miko's reappearance.

The Shikon no Tama found a kindred soul in her, and it was slowly abating away its state of corruption, even though eons ago it would have continued to stay corrupted - but it had been far too long since it tasted pure reiryoku, and now with her here, the corrupted one was slowly being peeled from his corruption, and her power began to flow.


	5. Light

Inuyasha was unaware of time as he clung to the walls that separated him from Kagome, and when Kikyō pulled him back, he continued to stare at the walls, holding her under his chin as he recalled past memories.

It wouldn't take long before Naraku would come strolling by, taunting him - Inuyasha knew because the hanyō would do just that over the centuries he'd been imprisoned with Kikyō.

"Such a lovely morning, wouldn't you agree, hanyō?" Naraku drawled in greeting, as he stopped before the wall with Kagome and Kagura at his side.

"Would be lovely if I could shred you to pieces," Inuyasha begrudgingly replied, flexing his claws as Kikyō tried to cool his ire, and it worked for a minute, until he caught scent of Naraku all over Kagome.

Kagome flinched back as she heard Inuyasha's growl, and she silently gasped when Kagura winced in pain at being propelled back, before she sent out silent apologies because that was the best she could do without proper speech.

"Why are you covered in his smell?" Inuyasha barked madly.

Naraku felt the corner of his lips pull up, and his eyes narrowed in silent victory, it was glorious on his tongue, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Come, miko, we shall be on our way," Naraku announced, and he turned to leave, easily pacing himself so that his miko had enough time to catch up with him.

Cold fury swept Inuyasha's insides, and he wasn't pleased to know that the wench had slept with Naraku, because though he had gained the love of his life, he still had a claim on Kagome, and now that she wasn't his, it was like rubbing salt on his wounds.


	6. Ruins

It had been a long time since Kagome set foot outside of Naraku's castle, and she wasn't sure what to do, or even where to go.

Kagura's directions acted like a beacon for her, so she followed without thought.

Naraku felt something inside of him grow as he followed the two to the ocean, and he didn't know what to name it, but it didn't bother him so he left the feeling alone.

"I haven't been here since they captured me," Kagura mentioned as she felt the water lap against her thighs, and she moved her shoulders around, even though there was no point. With her back leaning against Kagome, she stared into the sea.

Kagome wanted to ask how, but she only nodded and sat still as the water lapped around them.

Silence soothed the three as they rested before the blue expanse, and there was no need for conversation (particularly because one couldn't speak, and the other two weren't that talkative unless they felt like talking).

A sharp glint in the ocean water caught their eyes and it disappeared shortly after, but something tugged at Naraku's senses and his eyes narrowed at the spot it was last seen.

"Get out of the water, miko!" he barked his command, just as a spear burst from the ocean surface and landed directly where Kagome's legs had been, and Naraku noted that there was a metal chain attached to the spear, _to drag her down_ , he assumed as he grabbed his miko by the arm and called up his only retainer capable of producing shōki, in order to carry them away.

Shōki was highly-corrosive and poisonous, and because his jaki was very potent, his shōki would've been dangerous for the little miko to ride on, so he had no choice but to call up his retainer.

Kagome could only stare wide-eyed as Sesshōmaru appeared and then she was on a cloud of shōki - the same one she'd seen him form so many times during their past encounters with him. _He's alive?_ she thought as she hugged Kagura to her chest, being careful as she sat on her knees.

"This Sesshōmaru has a certain amount of freedom to do whatever he pleases," Sesshōmaru answered the unspoken question, as he pushed his shōki back to the castle - expertly avoiding the sudden rainstorm of spears aiming for them (but more specifically for Kagome).

Kagome nodded, but continued to look at him in bewilderment, because she couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he was now slave to Naraku. The one yōkai who was on par with Naraku...and now he was under Naraku's orders; to Kagome, it just seemed bizarre.

Naraku felt amused by her expression, and he sat beside her as they journeyed back to the castle. Now that he knew the humans had hid beneath sea level, he would send his yōkai out and exterminate them. Even if they weren't the scientists that had captured his little miko, he wanted to take revenge for daring to extract reiryoku from the miko. Didn't they know that reiryoku only worked for the miko it lived inside? Its effects would dissipate the moment it no longer felt a connection to the miko - and if it wasn't willed into an object, then it would be pointless for them to try and duplicate its effects.


	7. Ambitious

Naraku didn't know why he kept Kagura - she was of no use after her capture and return, but Kagome seemed to need her, so he kept her alive - even though it was clear that he held her heart in his grasp.

Kagome brushed through Kagura's long hair, and she smiled as the steam surrounded them in a comforting manner. It had been quite a while since she last visited the onsen, and she'd been surprised when Kagura mentioned it - so when Naraku showed her where it was, she was entirely all too excited to bask in its healing properties.

"Thank you, miko," Kagura whispered as she felt her human fingers scrape against her skull, and she felt her heart beat languidly - having stopped her growing resentment for Naraku after a century of being in the human's grasps.

He could've killed her at any moment, but he didn't, and she found she couldn't hate him anymore than she once did - though that easily ebbed away the longer she stayed with the miko.

The miko's fingers traced words onto Kagura's scalp, and though the yōkai felt it, she was illiterate.

"I can't read," the silent _I'm sorry_ was heard, and Kagura felt shame for not being able to understand her saviour's question.

Kagome shook her head, smiling sadly, and she continued to comb through Kagura's hair, as though it were silk and it deserved more attention than her own hair.

Naraku stood outside, wondering just why his feet led him there, and he placed his hands inside his sleeves while turning to leave, but something tugged at him to stay - so he stayed, even though he wasn't sure why he followed those words, words of an unknown.

"Miko!"

The fluster in Kagura's voice caused him to leap into action, and he slid open the door - causing steam to escape into the hallway, and was greeted by the sight of his miko spasming on the ground.

Kagome felt her heart stop several times as she was carried back to her room, though she wouldn't have known this since she was unconscious, and she would've blushed if she had the chance - because being carried by Naraku was a sight to behold.

Kagura would definitely tell her when she returned to the land of the living, instead of staying inside her dream world.


	8. Hostage

If humans were this easy to kill, why did they not kill them sooner? Naraku wasn't sure, but he was pleased by the carnage he and his retainer left behind - and the blood that clung to his claws tasted sweet, yet it rolled bitterly against his tongue.

"Unappetizing," he grumbled, dipping his claws into the ocean to cleanse himself. His clothes would have to wait, because he didn't want to return to his castle in heavy clothes.

"May I leave?" Sesshōmaru asked, flipping one of the humans onto their front, so that he wouldn't have to step over the decaying body.

Naraku dismissed his retainer with a hum, and when Sesshōmaru left for his castle in the west (he had decided to gift the Western lands to Sesshōmaru as ruler, while keeping the rest for himself, since his retainer was better off not resenting him, and would only be pleasant if he was allowed to keep his land and his companions), he rode back to his castle in the east.


	9. Cold

Kagome woke to a blurred sight of someone staring at her, and she would've yelped had she a tongue.

"Up, brat, I did not bring you here to startle her," Naraku commanded, but he didn't make any move to pull the kitsune away from Kagome's bedside.

 _S-Shippō?_ Kagome thought in wonder, blinking back her tears as she clung to the blanket providing her comfort. She had thought that the kitsune had died in battle, last she remembered before the well whisked her away, and she was at odds with joy and misery - for the reminder of her living and lost friends.

"Kagome, is that really you?" Shippō asked, leaning back before Naraku cut off his tail for not listening to him. It had nearly happened once, so he didn't want to anger the hanyō.

Slowly nodding, Kagome was unprepared for the warm hug she received from her long-lost friend, even if it was only days since she'd last seen him, and she wrapped her arms around his well-built shoulders, wondering just how long it had been for him - because he grew up so well, and now he seemed to be taller than her, when he was but a boy just a couple of days ago.

"It's been so long, you don't know how much I missed you, Kagome. Me and Kirara were both lost after Miroku and Sango passed onto the next world, and we'd been keeping Sesshōmaru company, at least until I was ordered to come here and watch over you," Shippō exclaimed in several breaths, and then proceeded to breathe in what he knew was Kagome's scent, which was very distinct from the combined scents of Naraku and Kagura.

Kagome could only blink in shock as she processed this, and when Shippō released her, she found herself being nuzzled by Kirara, who was purring rather loudly at their reunion.

After Sango had died, Kirara stuck close to Shippō and clung to him for comfort, and when she caught smell of Kagome's reiryoku, she wanted to go see the miko who had gone missing after the Shikon no Tama was corrupted by Naraku.

It was only by chance that Naraku remembered Shippō and Kirara were his little miko's companions, otherwise he would have sent for Kanna and another one of his incarnations.


	10. Toil

Life at Kagewaki's castle, which had been rebuilt over the centuries, was as normal as it could get - with the exception of the abnormal situation consisting of many yōkai attending to the miko that Naraku brought back days ago.

It was unknown whether Naraku planned on keeping her or letting her go, because to the mass, Naraku was keeping her imprisoned, and every so often would punish her by dragging her out of the castle, and would then return with a deep and heavy frown.

"Should we kill the miko to please our lord?" one of the yōkai asked, but when he asked this of his lord, he had been beheaded, and his stains remained on the shōji doors, as a reminder and warning to all that the miko Kagome was not a prisoner, and their life would be forfeit if they dared to suggest otherwise.


	11. Yew

Her fingers glided over the long bow, and she huffed in admiration at the bow she once held close. Her questioning gaze, however, made him uncomfortable even as he swelled with pride for reasons unbeknownst to him.

"I had kept it to remind the hanyō that his miko had disappeared," was the truth, but now he wished he had said something - _anything_ \- else to keep her lips from being pulled down.

It was only right that Kagome ignored him for the rest of that evening, and when he sought her out, she would be sitting in front of the hanyō's prison holding the bow across her lap, smiling and chatting with her hands.

The resurrected miko was not pleased.


	12. Burgundy

Humans were easy to intoxicate with wine, and his little miko was no exception, even though she had taken a couple gulps - loud, harsh, and ever so woefully.

He had taken it upon himself to seek out this delectable wine, and returned to his castle to offer it as an apology for crossing her ire - even though he wouldn't take back his words, because he and the hanyō held a deep resentment for each other, and it just wasn't him to claim he was lying about such a truth.

Her cheeks rose with little difficulty, and she fell back, snoring softly, a curious sigh hackling his nerves.

He had forgotten himself for a second there, and as he stared down into the velvet wine, he considered his motives for keeping her.

 _What_ had caused him to save her, all those days ago? He had been curious, he'd admit, when he felt her fluctuating reiryoku beneath the shrine of his hated enemy, and he had delved into her mind to see what she saw, and it had egged him on.

Naraku was like Onigumo in many ways, even after the man had been separated from his consciousness, and it was that he held a flame for the reincarnated miko - who in many ways was unlike the original.

The web he weaved around his heart was threatening to break, and if he didn't hold fast, he would ultimately fall, and Naraku wouldn't let that happen.

It was decided, right then, that he would stop seeing the miko while she stayed in his castle - it would not do for the spider hanyō to be caught in a moment of weakness, as he'd been since he saved his little miko- _no,_ the miko, he corrected himself.

Naraku had once again closed off all feelings he felt, so that it would not disturb him from his goal of exterminating those puny humans. His- _the_ miko being the exception, since she still had some use staying alive.

The Shikon no Tama pulsed restlessly at the way things suddenly turned out, and it felt the darkness take whole once more.


	13. Epitome

Blanketed by the night, Kagome dreamt.

She remembered the container she was in, how the scientists - researchers - looked at her, not seeing her for a human being, but an experiment.

She was stuck inside the container once more, she dreamed, and her eyes observed the cold monitors beeping around her, recognizing her status as an object of interest - for the greater good of humanity, but humanity was slowly dying out, and everyone hid beneath ground.

What good would it do for humanity to be saved? Yōkai were stronger, that was true, and they couldn't be killed that easily with machine guns or other state of the art weaponry.

She had a fleeting thought that she shouldn't have saved all those humans back in the Feudal Era; they were subjective to fear, and fear led to hate, which eventually turned into war. This ongoing war of yōkai and human bore through her soul, and she was stuck reliving it in the here and now.

"She's shutting down on us, shock her awake," one of the humans ordered, not a hint of empathy for driving pain into its own kind - though they never saw her as human, not when they realized she was a miko, one who produced reiryoku.

No, humans didn't deserve to live - and since she wasn't human in their eyes, well, she wasn't referring to herself when she wanted them to die.

Naraku had been the one to tear the place apart, with flames that called her to him, and she willingly gave her human life up to follow him - she was empty of humanity, but full of yōkai, and she found she didn't mind.

But her dream didn't end there, no, it didn't.

"Kagome, where are you going?"

_Mama._

"Nee-chan, don't forget to come back!"

_Sōta._

"Yōkai! Release my granddaughter!"

_Jii-chan._

She had family, and the part of her that gave up on living as a human rushed back in grief, because she still hadn't found her family - and they were waiting out there, somewhere, in the vast expanse of the world, and she would tread through thick and thin to find them once more.

She would be reunited with family.


	14. Recuperations

His claws struck deep into the pillar, and a deep rumble escaped his chest, pouring shōki all over the grounds and casting fast onto the remains of those petty humans.

"Retreat!" one cried, scrambling back to run for safety.

But there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, and everywhere they died.

"My lord, they managed to purify one of us before we killed them, do you wish for us to take the object for examination?"

Tilting a claw forth, he gave his permission, and his eyes narrowed at the remains of the weak yōkai, a scholar she was, instead of a fighter.

"It appears that we cannot touch it without singing our hands, my lord," his retainer spoke, and in a moment of silence, Naraku turned to the sky, seeing it for a sign of mockery, in spite of their victory.

"Bring the miko, she will recover it for us."


	15. Distraction

There were words she wanted to say, but they died down because she couldn't speak anyway.

"Kagome misses her family, her pack," Shippō announced, easily catching whiff of her desire, because he too knew the feeling of finding family, a very sad smell lingered with the hints of determination - it was very sour yet left him feeling joy.

Naraku squashed down the feeling of wanting to please her, and shifted his head to look down at the solemn miko.

"Until the humans are dead," he said.

A distressed call sounded from the back of Kagome's throat, because she knew that it only meant one thing - until this war was over, and even then she wouldn't know if her family would be safe.

Naraku told himself that it was for the best, because he wouldn't let the miko control him with her wishes and demands, not that she outwardly expressed such things, but just one look and he would succumb to what she wanted, and he was preventing that from happening.

 _Not again_ , he vowed.


	16. Hostility

"The Western lands have captured more humans, my lord, and they have requested permission to kill," Sesshōmaru spoke clear, as he bowed his head in knowledge of Naraku's power over him.

"Cease their foolish lives," Naraku ordered, but a thought appeared before his very mind and he called Sesshōmaru to halt.

Waiting, Sesshōmaru observed his lord with intrigue. Normally, once orders were given, they would be carried out - but this hesitancy, oddly, wasn't alarming.

"Bring them to me, and call the miko when they arrive," was all he said, thus dismissing his retainer.


	17. Solace

_None_ , she thought, hugging Kirara to her chest as she closed her eyes, not wanting to see the deaths of strangers. She had condemned them for not being family, and a part of her relished their deaths - even as she wished she could've saved them.

Their blood filled the air, and Naraku calmly strode through their decaying bodies to call for the guards. "Dispose of them," were his orders.

Kagome hiccuped as she felt Kirara's nose brush against her cheek, and she slowly curled into a ball as she cried for her mom, her little brother, and her grandfather. They were missing, and she didn't even know if her search was going to prove fruitless.

Naraku ignored her silent wails, pretending she wasn't there as he looked through reports detailing the issues regarding his castle.


	18. Defective

"My lord, it is unwise to leave the castle," Sesshōmaru announced, even though he himself had left his castle unattended - but he had Jaken helping him take care of the land.

"I tire of sitting in here all day, and I am more than capable of fending for myself," Naraku drawled, and he stood up, prepared to leave.

"May I suggest that you bring the miko along with you?" Sesshōmaru asked lightly, and stood utterly still as he inwardly grimaced when a lock of his hair fell to the floor. _That will be a no_ , he filled in, and bowed before removing himself.

Naraku growled as he flexed his claws, and he fought the urge to go on a killing spree when the feelings he had locked deep within himself sprung from their cage. _It is inconvenient to have these feelings_ , he argued in frustration, but the emotions swelled within him and he found himself hovering outside her bedroom.

The words caught in his throat, and he slid open the door because he was not going to ask for permission to enter, not when it was his castle, and she was only there because he hadn't killed her or imprisoned her yet.

A squeak fluttered towards his ears, and his eyes sought for his little miko - soon finding her hidden behind the shōji screens on the far right of her room.

Steam rose behind the screens, and the sploshing of water against her skin rang loud in the otherwise silent room.

 _She is taking a bath_ , his mind supplied as he blinked languidly, inhaling the fresh scent of _something_ \- a pleasant smell he didn't mind surrounding himself with, and proceeded to close the door behind him.

It was clear to say that Naraku was at odds with his hatred and simmering interest for the little miko, who honestly was unaware of his fluctuating emotions - other than the fact that he was at times cold, and at times warm.

Kagome wasn't sure what to feel as she was hyperaware of his presence, and when she forced herself to breathe, she found herself feeling light in the head.

Naraku narrowed his eyes at the screens blocking his view from his miko, but he allowed her to have this privacy, because one part of him was disgusted by his feelings for the human, and wanted no part in the act of spying - so it left him at odds with himself for wanting to be closer, and wanting to be run away.

When no sound came from the spider hanyō, she found herself relaxing and thought that maybe he had left when he realized she was bathing, and with a gentle smile, resumed her lukewarm bath.

When Kagura was rolled into Kagome's room, the first thing she, Shippō and Kirara noticed was the intimidating form of their lord. Her mouth opened in shock, and she was whirled around by Shippō, who didn't want to get caught in the crossfire should something happen.

"Why is he-I thought that-what?" Kagura spoke to herself, and she would've rubbed circles against her temples, had she her arms.

"Whatever is happening, I don't like it, but I favour my life more so we will retreat to the garden. Sounds like a good idea, don't you agree Kirara?" Shippō quickly said, turning to his friend, only to notice that the nekomata had disappeared from his shoulder, and he whipped his head around to stare at the closed doors.

Back inside Kagome's room, there was an air of hostility, and Naraku rose one brow to the hackled companion of his miko.

A deep rumbling sounded and Kagome tilt her head towards the shōji screens, wondering what was happening because she could not see.


	19. Command

Kirara stood guard before Kagome, not wanting to leave the miko alone with their past enemy, even though she would not be able to harm a single hair of his, because she was bound to protect him, not harm.

As if sensing the nekomata's turmoil, Naraku raised one brow, and scoffed, "I will not harm her, nekomata," he claimed.

No response was given, but Kirara continued to stand guard.

"Stand down, nekomata, I am here to inquire about something," Naraku barked.

Behind the screens, Kagome was wondering why they were causing a ruckus this early in the morning, and felt entirely uncomfortable bathing while they were in the room - but she couldn't complain, so she continued lathering her arms with soap, something she'd been glad to see in the modern era.

Kirara hesitated, understanding that she would lose her life if she continued to see Naraku as a threat, and she slowly decreased in size, unhappy about standing down.

Naraku only hummed in approval.


	20. Drowsy

When Kagome finally got out of the castle, she wasn't sure what to feel. It was boring being in the castle, but it was dangerous _not_ being in the castle.

"The humans have not claimed the mountains, there should be no attacks on your person," Naraku mentioned, though he didn't know why he was amusing her with this reassurance. It made no sense, and he wanted to kill Sesshōmaru for suggesting - _no, coercing_ \- him into bringing the miko along.

Kagome could only stare at the modern era fused with feudal era, and it was a pretty weird picture, because there were parts that struck her as misplaced - since her time was different from their time.

Now? Now it was combined, to form an era where yōkai and humans weren't cohabiting. It was more like the modern era was under siege of the feudal era, and that just seemed odd.

When she returned to her time, she had been weary about what Naraku had done in the many centuries he'd taken over with the corrupted Shikon no Tama, but instead, she had forgotten about him while being seized by humanity's greatest - _cruelest_ , her mind supplied - researchers, who had forgone ethical practices in their search of exterminating the yōkai.

 _Now is not the time to think about what has been done_ , she berated herself, because that was then, and this is now.

"Are you not enjoying yourself, miko?" Naraku asked when he looked over to see her eyes closed, and the air a tad bit grief.

Opening her eyes, she shook herself and then forced a smile upon her lips, trying to convey that she was enjoying herself out here in the open, where she wasn't being targeted for her reiryoku.

If anything, Naraku seemed to be displeased by her act, and he grasped her around the shoulders, tucking one arm underneath her knees, and they were off on his cloud of shōki.

"Lying will get you nowhere, miko, you will do well to remember that," was all he said.


	21. Irrational

The day had begun and already she was finding herself with nothing to do. Shippō had taken over her job as Kagura's guide, and Kirara had been sent back to Sesshōmaru to do whatever it was that a nekomata could do for the taiyōkai.

"What is it?"

Shuffling before her past nightmare, Kagome wondered how she could communicate her troubles, and bit the inside of her cheek.

Naraku heaved a sigh, and waved her over to sit down, because he grew tired of her shuffling, and when she sat, he waited ever so patiently for her to communicate what was on her mind.

Shaking her head, Kagome decided not to go through with it, and she stood up, preparing to leave.

When the miko left his room with reddened ears, the spider hanyō only rose a brow in bewilder, but he easily forgot about her as the reports under his hands called out to him like a moth to a flame.


	22. Wander

The garden was desolate, she noticed, and because there was no one around, she found it called to her - like it was a place of solace, and one she could spend her days in.

No one knew where she was, but she always returned before sunset, so they left her be - it didn't matter where she was, so long as she didn't go running off getting captured by their enemy, and cause the whole of yōkai to die off.

Spending her time in the garden left Kagome feeling not so empty, because nature called out to her, and she stopped putting on shoes - going barefoot because it just felt right to do so.

There was something about the destruction around her that she wanted to be around, and she took to it like water took to the sand, by caressing it and pulling it down.

Smiling, she felt the soil beneath her feet and curled her toes in, closing her eyes as she twirled in the middle of poor nature, and loving the feel of the wind brushing against her.

Her arms spread like the wings of a plane, and she felt all thought come to a stop - her mind focused on one thing, and one thing only.

Spinning drove her crazy, but in a good way, because she kept herself sane in this world of insanity - scientists who tortured experiments, yōkai who spared her kindness, the act of dominance and submission - it was all so confusing that she wondered just when her dream would end.

 _Maybe this is my reality_ , she thought when she lost her balance, finding herself in mind numbing pain, because dreams weren't supposed to make you feel hurt, they didn't touch you, so feeling pain made her think, and she realized that she just wanted to fool herself into thinking this was her unreality - someplace that resembled reality, but really wasn't.

Pushing herself up by her palms, she glanced out into the grounds, and squinted at the bleary-eyed cat. In fact, the cat seemed to be slinking closer to her, and as it came to stop before her, she found herself sobbing without her notice.

 _It's Buyo_ , she thought in relief, and quickly pulled her long lost cat in her arms, hugging her terribly thin pet as she sat on her knees.

Buyo hadn't thought that he would ever see his mistress ever again, but here she was in all her glory, and he was glad that he followed his instincts - being called to a place that skirted against his senses of danger.

Now reunited, Kagome felt hope for her family - because if Buyo was alive in this wretched world, that must mean her family was alive too. She just didn't want to imagine the possibility that they had died, because if they did, then she would be lost - not knowing what to do, what to live for, and she certainly didn't want to be left alone when-if her family moved on.

Buyo felt relief as he was carried inside the castle, but his whiskers tingled as bells tolled in his mind, and he clung to his owner in weary fear.

Kagome simply walked her way back to her room, never bumping into anyone - which was odd, but not unusual - she simply chalked it up to her returning earlier than their patrol.


	23. Tumble

Cats had many lives, and Buyo had kept all of his - though he kept getting into situations which he thought would require him to use one of his lives to live, but luck had it so that he got out without needing to use them, so here he was in the safety of his mistress' arms - staring down the boy-man his mistress once called Shippō in her tales about the past.

If a cat could be haughty, look no further from Buyo.

"Kagome...when did you get a cat?" Shippō asked in a strained voice, as though it irked him that there was a cat in the castle - and nobody knew until Kagome just so happened to carry one around.

Furrowing her brows, she questioned how she'd tell him, but a lazy meow caused her to look down and she looked back up to Shippō's narrowed eyes.

"Fine, but I'm not convincing him anything, you'll have to convince him yourself," Shippō huffed, turning tail.

 _What transpired just now?_ Kagome asked herself, and absentmindedly stroked Buyo's back, though she kept forgetting that he wasn't as plump as he'd been from her time before the well sent her back.

Buyo purred, pleased, and he laid his chin on the back of his paws while rumbling softly - filling the room with his pleasant grumbling.

"I have been notified of a cat lurking on castle grounds," Naraku announced upon arrival, sliding the door open as though he had every right to enter uninvited.

Kagome looked up and suddenly felt sheepish, because she had forgotten about Naraku while catching up with Buyo - though the two had no way of communicating outside of spending quality time together, by way of her running her fingers through his fur and him lazing around on her lap.

Buyo turned his head around, and levelled a stare, before meowing plainly and loudly.

Naraku furrowed his brows as he looked up at the miko, before returning his gaze to the cat on her lap, "As long as you see to it," he huffed, before taking his leave.

Kagome blinked, pausing her strokes as she looked down at her beloved pet, and she wondered just what he said because both Shippō and Naraku seemed to give into whatever Buyo said, or, well, meowed.

 _Such a silly cat_ , she thought fondly, resuming her strokes.

Buyo could only relax in joy as he decided he would never take this for granted ever again, because it had been so long since he last felt her soothe his nerves, and now that he found her, he wasn't going to let her out of his sights - especially since she didn't need to return to the past.

The past had caught up.


	24. Recognition

The past had caught up, and Kagome was devastated over the news.

 _Jii-chan..._ she silently sobbed, and basked in the cold warmth of her mama's arms, while Sōta stood carrying Buyo in his arms - and they had all grown, while she herself was aging slowly - the effects of going to the past and returning to the future one too many times taking a toll on her natural growth - so she was nineteen years old looking like she was sixteen years old.

Naraku stood off to the side as he watched the family reunite, and he was pleased by the events of making his miko happy - but he was furious for falling for her charms once more. There was no end to this inner turmoil he felt raging inside of him, and it was only going to get worse, he felt it in his soul.


	25. Forward

The humans were finding more and more ground to exploit this faux reiryoku, and Naraku caused many of their downfall - yet more appeared to replace the fallen troops, and he was growing tired of this long battle.

How long had he been fighting for? Ever since the Shikon no Tama was in his grasp, really, and he had enjoyed the unending pain he'd been causing...up until his miko was found, and then something inside of him shifted, and he felt that he wanted this all to end.

Now...now he had someone to protect, and curse his other half all he wanted to, but that was the truth, and Naraku hated lying to himself - he could deceive others all he liked, but he could never deceive himself - because he had tried, and it had created this...half of him that represented all he lied about, and he didn't know who he was anymore.

He was both, and yet he wasn't.

He was one, but he couldn't discard the other.

He loved, yet hated.

And to him, it was all too disconcerting.


	26. Deliberate

It was no easy feat, what he went through.

It had involved dyeing his claws red, and being bathed in faux reiryoku, but the Shikon no Tama had nullified their attempts, so he had been free to walk the plains they caved beneath ground.

It was pretty easy, actually, and the humans were terrified of his presence, before realizing that they were being toyed with - because if he could get in this easily, and not be purified, then what did that mean that they were alive?

Naraku could single-handedly kill them all off, but he hadn't, so it was with despair that they saw him for what he truly was–yōkai, and not the spider hanyō he appeared to be.


	27. Gratitude

She had been happy, finally finding herself with family, but something inside her felt that this wasn't right–she was still missing something, _someone_ , and she knew it deep inside her heart.

Kagome had grown fond of Naraku, and after all she went through, you'd be surprised at how much she trusted him.

"The lord?" Shippō repeated incredulously, and his lips contorted at her silent question, "He went down to the caves," he answered, though he wouldn't divulge where the caves were when she looked expectantly at him.

Frowning, Kagome hugged Buyo to her chest as her feet padded down the hall, and she was thankful that the socks she wore provided warmth because she didn't think it would be this cold outside her room.

"You are out of bed, this late at night," her lord mentioned, and she knew it was him and not just an imagination, because he stepped into the hallway as he spoke, and she was entranced by the moon granting him a deadly appeal, yet she knew he would never harm her - at least not intentionally.

Crinkling her eyes, she hugged her dear cat close to her chest as she greeted Naraku with a short bow. When she rose, Buyo meowed in her arms, shifted around, and jumped out of her arms with such suddenness that she couldn't catch him in time, and she watched him slink up to the moon-bathed yōkai, rubbing himself against his hakama.

"Return to your room, Kagome," Naraku ordered, and he bent down to stroke her pet's fur.

Silently, or as quietly as she could, she padded her way towards her lord, and she waited until his back was straight before she reached out, wrapping her arms around his waist for a hug.

Closing her eyes, she laid her cheek against his chest, and listened with peace as the comforting beat of his heart soothed her, in a way that she just knew she had everything she could possibly need in this life.

She had her family, friends, and now someone she cared about, on a deeper level than those she still cared about, and Higurashi Kagome could not find anything better than this moment in life - this feeling of absolute peace.

Silent, he only held his arms out in surprise.

He didn't know what to make of this, but second by second he relaxed, until he reciprocated the act, and then he realized that there was a reason he'd been unsettled lately - with the danger taken out of their way, he felt that his miko would live for a much longer time, and it would stay that way.

It didn't matter that they were past enemies, because centuries had passed and they all grew up. The years had definitely brought about change, and with Kagome's return, change was already making way.

The Shikon no Tama regained just a tiny bit of its purity, and it shone through the darkness, so it was happy and would wait however long before the miko finally freed it from its corruption.


	28. Fini

It was noisy, this sudden jovial spirit descending from all angles, and he dug his head deeper into her legs as she worried over his flattened ears.

There was only so much noise one could take while being imprisoned, especially if they had enhanced hearing, and for Inuyasha, that was his exact problem.

Kikyō could only shake her head as her lover denied the very exuberance of the castle, and she silently acknowledged the spider hanyō as he came to a stop before their prison cell.

"Rejoice, hanyō, I am letting you go after centuries of imprisonment," Naraku sniffed, even though he would've let them rot the rest of their lives away, but a certain miko pleaded with her eyes to free them - and he had been in a good mood, so he agreed, but he hadn't thought she would want it to happen the same day, so here he was.

"What?!" Inuyasha screeched as he freed his head from Kikyō's lap, turning to face the bemused lord.

"I do not repeat myself, hanyō. Leave and never set foot on my lands," Naraku ordered, taking down the barrier that had stopped Inuyasha and Kikyō from escaping, and then he turned around to leave.

"That bastard!" Inuyasha roared, making a move to chase after the damn yōkai, but Kikyō's hold on him restrained him from getting up, and he pouted at the silent 'give up'. It didn't make him happy, but he didn't want to make her well and truly pissed off if he picked a fight he knew he wouldn't win, so he sniffed and took off with Kikyō in his arms, heading to a place that wasn't claimed by Naraku.

When Sesshōmaru was notified of his half-brother's appearance by the gates, he was surprised, but he didn't show it.

"Keh, I didn't want to be here, just so you know," Inuyasha claimed after he was led straight into Sesshōmaru's office, and he winced at the extremely painful pinch Kikyō gave him after he said that.

Sesshōmaru was amused, though, so he waited for his half-brother to reveal the reason for his face.

"Can we stay here?" Inuyasha grumbled out when it became clear that he had to ask his half-brother for shelter.

Folding his hands, the western lord had a thoughtful appearance, not that his expressions revealed thus, but he seemed to be contemplating his decision.

"You will learn the ways of handling the castle, and you will be competent," Sesshōmaru announced, not outright saying he and his miko could stay, but he gave his permission, and that was all that mattered to Inuyasha.

"Keh, bastard."

Kikyō only glared at her lover as he shouted in pain, cradling his arm as though she had cut it off with the mere pinch she set on him. Shaking her head, she turned to face the western lord, and thanked him for allowing them to stay, though she kept her words to herself because actions spoke louder than words, and he reciprocated in kind.

"Let's go Kikyō," Inuyasha huffed, his foot out the door.

"Your chambers will be in the south wing."

"I know that!" Inuyasha growled.

"Of course," simpered Sesshōmaru, who wasn't above mocking his half-brother. After all, it was how they got along, and centuries apart wouldn't stop them from communicating the same way.

Kikyō could only sigh as she lead Inuyasha the right way, because his sense of direction was abysmal, and she had asked for directions from Sesshōmaru, so at least she knew where she was going.

It didn't help that Inuyasha could hear the chuckling from that bastard of a half-brother, and since he couldn't retaliate to his face, he settled for mumbling death threats with a glower.

Naraku wouldn't be pleased to hear about Inuyasha still being on the face of the planet, because he had hoped that the remaining humans would have captured the hanyō to put him to death, but as long as he didn't see the mutt, he would be fine.


	29. Embrace

It had been sometime since he brought her to the beach.

The last that'd happen, she'd been attacked by underwater spears.

With the humans destroyed so casually, they were free to roam their world without worry.

The yōkai had won, so there was reason for their being here.

"Splendid, magnificent...the taste of victory on ash..." His lips curled as he tasted the sweet, sweet wind, and he enjoyed this moment of relief - the moment he'd been waiting for, when mankind fell to yōkai.

The faux reiryoku had been a surprise, but mankind could only extract so much to fail, because they hadn't been prepared.

War wasn't kind, it gave no love to those who died in its time, and it lathered its people with their blood, laughing maniacally as it carved death into its ground.

Those who were victors won over death, and they were granted life among death, where lives were prolonged, and time restored them to health.

It made no sense how the remaining Higurashi family kept their lives through centuries of time, but the shrine was still alive.

Kagome wouldn't understand how her brother and mother stayed so young, even though they were centuries old, but she was glad that they retained their lives because it meant she would be with them.

The ones holding time were different from death, and they decided on a whim to keep them alive.

Naraku would never admit it, but he owed a favour to time and death. They would collect from him when his time was up, and his death was near, but until then, he'd be off-limits.

He'd return to the ashes that he cleared away, and there was nothing stopping them from pushing him away, but the ones that held time took a liking to the Higurashi family, and anyone involved would surely see to another day.

Too bad, they crooned, it was just another day to wait.


End file.
